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Sustainable Australian Fisheries and Ecosystems

Future Directions - Science

Tony Smith

Geelong Revisited

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The recent past

• Achievements of the ESD sub-program

• Progress towards EBFM– Bycatch, protected species, habitats,

ecosystems– Integration – whole of fishery performance– Economic and social dimensions

• Australia’s global position in EBFM R&D– ESD framework, ERA, Atlantis etc

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A systems view

Fishing Catch

Monitoring

Assessment

Decision support

Management decisions

Implementation

Resources and ecosystems

Environmental driversMarkets

Costs

Performance evaluation

Standards

Policy

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Science input

Fishing Catch

Monitoring

Assessment

Decision support

Management decisions

Implementation

Resources and ecosystems

Environmental driversMarkets

Costs

Performance evaluation

Standards

Policy

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Monitoring

• Increasing industry involvement• Focus on cost-effective strategies addressing all needs• Potential from new technologies

– VMS– Electronic logbooks– Remote sensing– Smart tags– Habitat mapping– Underwater video

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Spatial analysis

Southern bluefin tuna management

Managementdecision

+

Habitat preferences

3D ocean info

Habitat prediction

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Assessment - ERA

• ScopingScoping

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Ris

k M

anag

emen

t R

espo

nseL H

L H

L H

Comprehensive

Focused

Time & $$

Time & $$

Uncertain

More certain

Qualitative

Quantitative

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Decision support -MSE & Atlantis

Atlantis

* Representation of run-off, pollutants and habitat degradation also possible

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MSE output – decision table

Economic objective

Ecological objective

Social objective

Strategy 1

Strategy 2

Strategy 3

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Where to with science

• The “two cultures” problem

• More focus on the human dimension– Incentives versus regulation– More effective systems of governance– Future scenarios for our fishing industry

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Key science challenges

Measuring sustainability – Climate change and shifting baselines– Scientific basis for determining acceptable

impacts– Properly integrating the social and economic

with the ecological

Cost-effective observation and monitoring systems

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Questions